The Blog

Google Plans First Retail Store at European Base in Dublin

Even software companies go retail.

Google Inc. plans its first stand- alone retail store at its European headquarters in Dublin after a trial at a computer shop in London, according to a filing by the world’s most popular search engine.

The Google Store would be open to the public and sell unspecified Google merchandise, the company’s Irish unit said in a local planning application. Located in the Montevetro office block on Dublin’s Barrow Street, the store would have about 123 square meters (1,323 square feet) of space including an added mezzanine floor designed to draw attention from passersby.

Retail may be a new front in Google’s competition with Apple Inc., whose 361 stores have fueled sales of iPods, iPhones and iPad tablet computers. Google, the world’s biggest maker of smartphone operating software, is in the process of buying handset maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. for $12.5 billion to help it compete with Apple’s phones and Microsoft Corp.’s mobile software.